THE VOID

Excerpts from the book OVOID THE VOID by Dr. Peter Steiner

EXCERPTS

‘The Void is the mysterious source of all there is, and I am part of the Source.’

Everything comes from the Nothing and I am part of the Everything, along with the Nothing. In the dichotomy of extremes the very definition of being Human is to keep challenging the edge of the envelope, be it the mysteriously small and the mysteriously large.

In the world of extremes the human mind cannot help but be an essential component of the Universe. By virtue of being a part of the whole, the human mind is forever blessed and condemned to the realm of extremes. The brilliant are likely to be manic depressive, the dull are likely to be spiritually even keeled.

The Mozart and the Salieri in us are selected by forces greater than ourselves, and have no choice but to emerge from the depth of our soul. They will battle for survival in our hearts, minds and souls, but the winner is never in doubt.

Salieri can curse God till the cows come home, he will never be Mozart. And similarly, Mozart could never live the life of the disciplined, systematic and ordered monotone existence of Salieri, even if he tried. The Oak and the Willow are what they are. Mozart and Salieri cannot trade places, bodies or souls.

“The strong will always break; the weak will bend and survive on the decay of the broken.”

There is a reason for the existence of all, the brilliant and the ordinary, the strong and the weak. The Universe is the way it is because it is the kind of Universe as IS. It will keep on unfolding the way it always had, whether we like it or not, whether we strive and fight the jihad, or surrender in monastic meditation.

Einstein, Gandhi, a miscarried foetus and I will never understand one another, for we were born and have died or will die for different purposes. Our uniqueness is the purpose, and the Universe made sure of that by mixing up slightly different combinations of base pairs on our DNA strands.

The less than 0.1 per cent difference in the DNA of Einstein, Gandhi, the miscarried foetus and I made us all different with differing paths, goals, and purposes in life. The 99.9 per cent of DNA that is the same in the four of us makes us human.

“The 1.0 per cent of DNA that is uniquely human differentiates us from our evolutionary cousins, the chimpanzees.”

Yes, 99 per cent of our DNA is common between humans and other primates.

Our essential purpose is both the same and unique. This is the dilemma and dichotomy that drives humans to madness and visions of clarity. Our individual purpose is different. The Theories of Relativity (both) could not have been written by Gandhi or I. Einstein or I would have made a very inferior Mahatma.

And a miscarried foetus may have been the change in the life of Einstein’s, Gandhi’s or Peter’s mothers’ lives that allowed for the three of us to be born and grow old. Part of the legacy of the unborn is to allow the rest of us to leave more visible signs of Inuksuk on the planet.

Inuksuk. I was here. Along with Einstein, Gandhi, and millions of the unborn. We have all participated in weaving a tapestry of humanity. Without any one of us the tapestry will survive, but it will not be the same. The way my essence permeated the Universe in an albeit temporary manner caused the Universe to never again be the same.

“I have come from the Void, the Source and found both of them inside me. I no longer feel the need to satisfy the existential hunger to find meaning in Life.

“The meaning is Life itself. The Life I live is the meaning. No one else has to prove it or approve of me. The meaning of life simply IS. Those of us who recognize the significance of the insignificant will never self destruct. Life seems to like the extreme along with the average, the multitudes. Those of us who hover on the edges between feelings of insignificance and folie de grandeur will always be at risk of self destruction.”

As denizens of the edge of insanity, the catatonic and Bonaparte of the asylum are two sides of the same coin. The sinner and the saint are the mirror images of each other, just exchanging cards in passing in the course of their lives. The mindless toil of the jihad, however always has the echoes of Zen in the background.

Chop wood, carry water – I reach enlightenment – so now I chop wood and carry water. And if I spout enlightenment, I have probably lost it. Observation affects the outcome – if I know that I am enlightened, I am probably not. If I know for sure that something is right, I am probably wrong.

“I will never see the whole picture. I can never see the world with your eyes or walk in your shoes. I am me and you are you.”

Do we have the power to change? We can tweak our existence by a small amount, but we cannot change our DNA (yet). I will not be Einstein, Gandhi or the unborn foetus. What I do with my mind is up to me – to a degree. So Steinbeck I shall not be. Neither do I want to be. This work was about what it means to be human, what it means to be a man. Not Mice and Men. Just Man. And Hemmingway can write To Have and not Have. I know that I have.

“I accept the Void as the Source of the Everything, and I also accept the Void in me as a natural consequence of being a part of the Universe.”

I do, however keep on being its partner in the ongoing process to create my personal reality. I wont try to eliminate the Void from inside me by trying to fill it with stuff – but I will not ignore it either. My awareness of the Void inside me allows the creative spark to burn inside me without endangering my sanity in the process.

I will continue to tweak this relationship with my inner Void and allow it to provide the space so that creativity can arise in me. This is an act of will that neither ignores the circle of emptiness inside me, nor tries to fill it with addictive stuff and processes.

I gently tweak the empty circle of Void in me in an ongoing manner, and thus keep on changing the circular Void into an ever shifting Ovoid shape. This Ovoid Void in me will keep on changing, without losing its predetermined locus and curvature. I Ovoid the Void. I will neither Avoid it, Denying it nor Fight it.

“This becomes a cooperative venture between the Source (God or the Universe) and the Vehicle of change (Me).”

The Void and I form the Bow and Arrow of Khalil Gibran, working together in creating a process that keeps altering Reality in an ongoing and unfolding mystery. The Universe is the mystery, and I am an active part of it. The mystery is both outside and inside of me. Outer Reality and my Inner Life are inseparable and interactive. I will never understand the Universe completely and neither will I understand my mind and my soul.

And this is all right with me, I am content with understanding 99 per cent of the Universe and 99 per cent of myself, and I am grateful for the ability to have reached so far. The symbolic one per cent of my mind and soul remains a mystery forever for me. When I understand the last 1 per cent, a part of the known will shift and offer a new and different 1 per cent to discover.

“I will never ever understand it all. Neither can you, nor anyone else.”

That is about it, my present understanding of the mystery of the Universe and my mind. Tomorrow I will understand a little more, but never all…

Excerpted from the ebook, OVOID THE VOID by Dr.Peter Steiner BSc., DDS.